Pichai Says Google Still Mulling A Censored Search Engine In China

Google is still considering whether to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said in a rare public commentary about the controversial secret project.

“It's very early. We don't know whether we could or would do this in China, but we felt it was important for us to explore,” Pichai said at the Wired25 conference in San Francisco. “I think it's important for us given how important the market is and how many users there are.”

Google's possible return to China—a market it abandoned over censorship concerns in 2010—was first leaked in August by The Intercept which reported that the tech giant was secretly developing “Dragonfly”, a custom-made search engine for the Chinese market.

Through internal tests, Pichai said Google found it would be able serve “well over 99 percent of queries”.

The prospect of Google returning to China has fuelled criticism from human rights groups that the company, which has long advocated a free and open internet, would be doing the bidding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which runs a vast censorship apparatus that stifles dissent. Since news of the Dragonfly project first leaked, hundreds of Google employees signed a letter saying that it raised “urgent moral and ethical issues,” CNBC reported.

Pichai described the Dragonfly as an exploratory internal project. He said Google's absence in China, a country with 20 percent of the world's population weighed heavily on the company, which has a mission to bring information to everyone.

Google had a search engine in China from 2006 to 2010. The tech giant quit China eight years ago in protest at the country's censorship laws and alleged government hacks. Earlier this month, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence called for Google to immediately halt work on Dragonfly, saying in a speech that it would “strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers”.

Pichai said that by offering a search engine in China again, Google would be able to provide some 800 million users with better information than what is available on important subjects, such as cancer treatment.

The 46-year-old Pichai also played down the influence employee protests had over the company's decision making. “Throughout Google's history we have given our employees a lot of voice and say in it, but we don't run the company by holding referendums.”